Page 9 of All the Dangerous Things

The sound seemed muted, and all I could concentrate on was that darkness creeping back into the corners of my eyes.

And then he rose and tucked the gun into the waistband of his shorts.

The last thing I was aware of was him walking closer, crouching in front of me, and reaching out.

4

GIO

She was a little thing, a petite Russian doll, lying still and curled up in the center of my bed.

Bringing Tatiana Petrov to my home wasn’t the smartest move I’d ever made, but it wasn’t the stupidest one either.

I gripped the apple in my hand and rubbed the bright-red flesh against the fabric of my shirt, polishing it before I brought it to my mouth and sank my teeth in.

I leaned against the doorframe and chewed the sweet fruit, watching Tatiana as she breathed evenly. I should have called her brothers right away. I really shouldn’t have fucking brought her here, but I hadn’tbeen thinking clearly after shooting the fucker who had been about to take her life.

“Well?” I took another bite of the apple and watched as the discredited physician I called in grabbed his bag and stood to face me.

Henry Lifeflighter had lost his license five years back for writing illegal scripts to fuel his narcotic addiction. And when I found him gambling what little money he had left at one of my clubs—and owing me a large fucking sum of money—I knew I could use him.

So for the last five years, he was on call as my medical bitch whenever I needed his expertise.

One of those times being tonight.

Henry’s eyes were bloodshot. The stench of body odor and the fact that his clothes were wrinkled as hell told me he’d probably been on a gambling bender when I summoned his ass.

“She’ll be fine,” he said, clearing his throat. “Given time.”

I straightened, and he took a step back, clearly sensing my irritation. “Elaborate.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Tatiana. I gave him this moment to collect his thoughts. Although he’d had likely been drinking allday, I could tell he was sober enough to make sure she was going to be okay.

I wouldn’t have let him see her otherwise.

When he faced me again, Henry exhaled and stared me in the eye. It wasn’t something he did often. It was his self-preservation that kept him from meeting me eye-to-eye, as if I were a predator and he was prey.

You never stared danger in the face for too long.

“It means she’ll be all right, but she’s going to be sore and have marks on her.” He exhaled again, and I could see he wanted to say more.

“Fucking spit it out, Henry.” My voice was sharp like the blade of a knife, about to slit his fucking throat if he didn’t get on with it.

I was impatient as hell and growled low. Henry took the fucking hint.

“If you don’t want people knowing what happened to her, you’ll have to keep her locked away because it’ll be very obvious in the coming days.” He swallowed audibly. “She’s already starting to bruise heavily.”

I took another bite of the apple and stared him down.

“She’ll have bruises around her neck,which will most likely last weeks. She may also suffer from memory loss and confusion.”

“Probably not a bad thing,” I said through a mouthful of the crisp fruit.

“She might not remember parts of her assault.” He rubbed his neck as if he’d been the one who got choked out. “Those small red and purple dots on her face and upper chest are what's called petechiae.” When I didn’t respond, he cleared his throat and continued. “Basically… bleeding under the skin.”

I made a sound of acknowledgement from deep in my chest.

“She’ll probably have difficulty breathing, swallowing, and speaking over the next several days as her throat heals. She had bleeding in her eyes. The blood vessels burst more significantly in her left.”

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